Ovechkin needed a little more than a period to score three times. He gave Washington an early lead with his power-play goal 3:29 into the game. Eric Fehr made it 2-0 at 7:33 of the first period by finishing a perfect cross from Tomas Fleischmann.

Ovechkin scored his second power-play goal off Viktor Kozlov pass with 5:59 left in the period for a 3-1 lead. Ovechkin's third goal came on a quick shot from between the circles after a quick pass from Tom Poti 54 seconds into the second period. Ovechkin assisted on Viktor Kozlov's third-period goal and has 10 goals and 14 assists in November.

The injury-riddled Capitals needed Ovechkin's help because they were missing seven players from their roster. Chris Clark (stress fracture of forearm), Jeff Schultz (broken finger), Boyd Gordon (back) and John Erskine (undisclosed) were hurt Monday night in a loss to Minnesota.

They joined Alexander Semin (back), Mike Green (shoulder), Sergei Federov (ankle), each of whom have been out with injuries. Schultz will be out 4-6 weeks, while Clark is expected to miss at least three weeks.